Phân tích diễn ngôn bài phát biểu “finest hour” của sir winston churchill

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG MAI A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF “FINEST HOUR”

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG MAI

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF “FINEST HOUR” SPEECH

BY SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL

(Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán bài phát biểu “Finest hour”

của Sir Winston Churchill)

M.A THESIS PROGRAMME I

Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01

Hanoi - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG MAI

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF “FINEST HOUR” SPEECH

BY SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL

(Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán bài phát biểu “Finest hour”

của Sir Winston Churchill)

M.A THESIS PROGRAMME I

Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01

` Supervisor : Prof.Dr Nguyễn Hòa

Hanoi - 2019

I declare that this is a true copy of my dissertations, including any final revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Post Graduate Studies office and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution

Hanoi, 2019

Nguyễn Thị Phương Mai

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My achievement in completing this thesis would not have been possible without the people who were involved in this study To the following people who donated their time and energy to this study, I am grateful and thankful:

First, I would like to offer my greatest appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Nguyễn Hòa His expertise and knowledge have guided me during the study He offered me his support which has been especially helpful to my academic work

I also would like to thank my classmates for their advice and assistance in keeping

my progress on schedule

My great thankfulness is also given to the teachers of Post Graduate Faculty Studies for their ideas to my paper and many thanks to my family and all my friends who have encouraged and helped me during the time of analyzing data, information for the study

ABSTRACT

Politicians and orators employ words as weapons in order to exert ideological control and make an audience believe something in an ostensive way In this regard, this study attempted to discover the connection between language, power embraced in “Finest hour” speech by Sir Winston Churchill on June 18th,

1940, a crucial period for the outcome of the Second World War Based on a brief overview of critical discourse analysis provided by Norman Fairclough, the study followed a framework with three stages: Description, Interpretation, and Explanation It focused on the analysis of language features, the relationship between situational and intertextual context, and the discourse process and social process The results obtained support the idea that Churchill's skillful use of language is closely connected with his overall political goals of instilling courage, inspiring confidence and spark the national pride in his fellow countrymen in such difficult times for Britain as those of war against powerful Nazi Germany, and the fascism in general

Keywords: Critical discourse analysis, political discourse, speech, ideology, language

ABBREVIATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENT Declaration Error! Bookmark not defined

Acknowledgments ii

Abstract iii

Abbreviations iv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Scope of the study 2

1.3 Aims of the study 2

1.4 Significance of the study 3

1.5 Research methodology 3

1.5.1 Analytical framework 3

1.5.2 Data collection and analysis 3

1.6 Structure of the thesis 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW & THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

2.1 Discourse analysis 5

2.2 Critical discourse analysis 6

2.3 The virtue and limitations of CDA 7

2.4 Some main concepts of CDA 9

2.4.1 Ideology 9

2.4.2 Power 10

2.4.3 Language and ideology 11

2.5 Main approaches to CDA 12

2.5.1 Wodak’s discourse-historical Approach 12

2.5.2 Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive Approach 13

2.5.3 Norman Fairclough’s dialectical - relational approach 14

2.6 Review of previous studies 16

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 19

3.1 Data 19

3.2 Context of the speech 20

3.3 Analytical framework 21

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26

4.1 Description 26

4.1.1 Vocabulary 26

4.1.2 Grammar 32

4.1.3 Connective values 38

4.1.4 Large-scale structure (macro-structure) 41

4.2 Interpretation 47

4.2.1 Situational context 47

4.2.2 Intertextual context and presupposition 49

4.2.3 Speech acts 51

4.3 Explanation 52

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 55

5.1 Recap 55

5.2 Conclusion 57

5.3 Limitations of the study 58

5.4 Suggestions for further study 58

REFERENCES 59

APPENDIX………i

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the rationale of the study, research objectives, research questions, research scope, research significance and research methodology which includes the analytical framework and the data collected

1.1 Rationale

Since the prehistoric era of human beings, the need for communication early arose and the system of communication before anything else is language There are numerous theories about the origin of language: the divine source, the natural sound source, the social interaction source, the physical adaption source, the tool-making source, the genetic source Yet, the primary purpose of language still the same: communication

As human beings continuously evolve, they utilize language in an intentional and more sophisticated way Language not only simply holds its initial function - communication but also is meant to represent ideologies and practice power As Fairclough (2001) stated, "exercise of power is increasingly achieved through ideology, particularly through the working of language" Concerning this issue, critical discourse analysis has emerged as a major multidisciplinary approach to

"show how discourse is shaped by relations of power and ideologies, and the constructive effects discourse has upon social identities, social relations and the system of knowledge and belief" (Fairclough, 1992b)

Since CDA's important interest is "the way social and political domination are produced in text and talk", numerous speeches or rhetorical talks of professional politicians have been analyzed CDA is asserted to be an effective tool to discover the power and ideology hidden in political discourse Winston Churchill is one of the most influential Prime Ministers in Britain's history Besides the skillful military tactics and effective leadership which led Britain to the victory in the Second World War, Churchill is also well-known for his professional language competence He was the only prime minister awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in

defending exalted human values" Every speech he made is a masterpiece in rhetoric "Finest hour" is a speech delivered by Churchill on June 18, 1940, during one of the lowest and most uncertain moments of the Second World War The speech was made, first to the Parliament and then over the radio to the nation, become one of the most celebrated one of the war and his career

Due to the huge linguistic, social and historical impact it brings forth, many writings discussing this speech However, as far as I am concerned, there has not any scientific writing concerning investigating the speech from CDA perspective,

which urges the author to conduct this researched entitled: A critical discourse

analysis of “Finest hour” speech by Sir Winston Churchill

1.2 Scope of the study

The analysis of the "Finest hour" speech of Winston Churchill is restricted to the transcript of the speech and the social context when the speech was presented Thus, paralinguistics (intonation, speed, loudness, etc) and extra linguistics (facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, etc), despite their significant roles in delivering

the speaker's message, are not taken into consideration

Moreover, within the scope of an MA thesis, not all of the linguistic features are investigated In other words, only salient aspects of the speech are examined

Finally, the thesis will be conducted for the academic purpose only and has no relation

to any party’s support The researcher's political view is also ignored in this study

1.3 Objectives of the study

By analyzing Churchill’s speech in the light of CDA, the study aims to discover the ideological traits in Churchill’s speech from linguistics features, uncover the way he encouraged people and persuaded them to believe in his ideas and solutions, how his language in the speech impacted listeners in the United Kingdom, which led to stronger British’ resolve and willingness to fight

To reach these aims above, two research questions are answered:

- What are Churchill's ideologies constructed in the speech?

- How are they manifested linguistically?

1.4 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the study makes a contribution to a better understanding of the CDA approach and further strengthens the CDA theories Practically, this study may provide the researcher with the way to analyze selected text, explore ideologies and power hidden between the lines in a spoken discourse Moreover, in Vietnam, plenty of speeches of American politicians or Presidential candidates are critically analyzed but the ones made by British figures are not yet widely investigated from the perspective of CDA Thus, I humbly expect to signal more future researchers who share the same interest

1.5 Research methodology

1.5.1 Analytical framework

In the discussion on the methodology of CDA, Van Dijk (1995) said: "one of CDA‘s volitional characteristics is its diversity" It means, the methodology for CDA is not similar (Wodak, 2001) A wide range of researchers with different objectives will lead to various ways of doing CDA Thus, basing on the characteristics of rhetoric speech and the aims of the study, Fairclough's CDA model is taken on board to analyze "Finest hour" speech of British Prime Minister,

Winston Churchill

The three-stage practical framework of CDA given by Norman Fairclough (2001), which includes description, interpretation, and explanation will be employed However, it is notable that not all the questions suggested by Fairclough are covered

in this study Only the outstanding features of the speech are focused on in order to enlighten the assertion of the speaker’s ideology

1.5.2 Data collection and analysis

The transcript of the historical speech "Finest hour" of Sir Winston Churchill on June 18, 1940, is taken from website winstonchurchill.org

After that, Fairclough's model is applied to analyze the data It comprises three discourse analysis stages: description, interpretation, and explanation The qualitative method is utilized to assess the effects of such linguistic features in the

stage of description and explore the relationship between text and interaction, then the relationship between interaction and social context to uncover the power and ideology underlined the speech

To understand more about the background of the speech, including the speaker - Winston Churchill, a general overview will be provided in the next thesis's chapters

1.6 Structure of the thesis

This research is organized into 5 chapters as briefly summarized below:

Chapter 1: Introduction contains rationale, significance, scope, aims and methods

of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review and Theoretical background provide an overview

of discourse, critical discourse analysis, the relations among language, power, and ideology, and Fairclough‘s analytical framework and the details in three stages of discourse

Chapter 3: Methodology consists of data, the context of the speech and analytical

framework

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion, includes the textual description, the

interpretation (situational context, intertextual context, presuppositions and speech acts) and the explanation of the speech's transcript

Chapter 5: Conclusion summarizes the main findings, draws a conclusion, and

offers suggestions for further study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW & THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This chapter begins with a discussion of discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis (CDA) and definitions of some key terms in CDA Wodak’s discourse-historical approach and Van Diik’s socio-cognitive approach are also presented Then, Fairclough’s dialectical-relational approach is mentioned with a detailed explanation of his three-dimensional model and the reason why it is appropriate for the data’s analysis This chapter concludes with a review of previous studies to show the existing researches’ results and how my thesis distinguishes itself from

them

2.1 Discourse analysis

For the past decades, discourse analysis has been received significant growing concerns from linguistics The definition of “discourse” is the unending source for linguistic discussion Some researchers take “discourse” like all forms of talk and writings (Gilbert and Mulkay, 1984), some refer it to only the way talk is messed together (Sinclair and Coulhard, 1975) Besides, Fairclough (1989) defines the discourse as a term referring to the whole process of the social interaction of which

a text is just part or segment affected by other super-linguistic components such as the speaker, audience, and occasion Generally, discourse is considered as all forms

of spoken interactions, both formal and informal, and written texts of all kinds whereby discourse is a process or practice and text (or talk) is the product of that process

On that ground, discourse analysis, which has been widely defined as an investigation of language in use and which is fundamentally interested in the extra-sentential levels, is all in all regarded as a recent field of linguistics (Brown & Yule, 1983) Schiriffin (1994) sees DA using a combined structural and functional view that actual analysis of discourse reveals interdependence between structure and function Consequently, DA cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms, but also is concerned with the social nature of communication, stressing contextual aspects of meaning which are interactive and negotiated, determined by

the social relations and identities of the participants in communication (Cook, 1994) Van Dijk (2003) assumes that discourse analysis is best depicted in the so-called relationship between the text and context in which that text is introduced or generated Detailing more in this prominent point of view, he adds that the word

"discourse" is grasped as a text within the context in which data are subjected to empirical investigation In general, it can be inferred that discourse analysis studies and analyzes what actually reveals in a text or texts related to the context and its or their functions

2.2 Critical discourse analysis

Methodologies that can apply to linguistic studies are numerous, but to investigate the representational interpretation of meaning and ideology, in which power relationships and social identities are manifested, “Critical Discourse Analysis” (CDA) is the most specialized Many recent analysts have emphasized the importance of moving from Discourse Analysis (DA) to CDA CDA does not only examine the purely linguistic value of language but includes and addresses issues such as genre, cohesion, language structures and interrelations between texts, including the field of language studies within social semiotics Thus, Heather articulates “DA cannot ethically be carried out without moving onto CDA” (Heather, 2000) CDA differs from other forms of discourse analysis in so much as

it is “critical” “Critical” implies showing connections and causes which are hidden;

it also implies intervention, for example providing resources for those who may be disadvantaged through change (Fairclough, 1995a) The exposure of things hidden

is important, as they are not obvious for the people involved and therefore cannot be fought against

According to Fairclough (2001), CDA deals with real issues and real problems in society, like “globalization, social exclusion, shifts in governance and so forth” The scope of CDA is vast (Haque, 2007) Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is not restricted to educational institutions Discourse Analysis (DA) studies discourse from linguistics perspectives but CDA looks at discourse not only from linguistics

perspective but also goes beyond the boundary CDA helps people by analyzing certain discourses which are embedded in society or those discourses which are employed by powerful groups or societies It helps to understand how discourse is used to manipulate people

CDA is generally viewed as the study of “the relationship between discourse and power” (Van Dijk, 2001), a study that addresses social problems (Fairclough and Wodak, 1997) The objective of CDA seems quite significant According to Haque (2008) one of the objectives of CDA is to focus on social issues and problems embedded in society, and take up the causes of the oppressed and downtrodden people of the society He further says that the aim of CDA is to show non-obvious ways in which language is involved in social relations of power and domination, and ideology Fairclough (2001) also says that CDA tries to make a balance of the power between the controller of discourse and the target people According to him, CDA is discourse analysis whose purpose is to systematically discover hidden

“relationships of causality, and determination between (a) discursive practices, events and texts, and (b) wider social and cultural structures, relations, and processes” (Fairclough, 1995)

2.3 The virtue and limitations of CDA

CDA is like a wake-up call; its aim is to make people aware of the possibly manipulative functions of language; it aims to explore the subtle power hidden in discourses (Fairclough, 1992, 1999, 2002, 2003; Foucault & Gordon, 1980) Thus, even Widdowson, a strong critic of CDA, acknowledges the significance of CDA

by stating that “what is most plainly distinctive about critical discourse analysis is its sense of responsibility and its commitment to social justice” (1998)

It represents an appeal too to the applied linguist who should likewise realize that the analysis he/she uses is part of the language system and carries ideology as well

as the language used in other genres Since the analysis itself is a “text” with

“imaginational readers” in mind, it is impossible to be purely objective Widdowson

(1998) articulated “your analysis will be the record of whatever partial interpretation suits your own agenda”

That does not mean that we should get rid of the ideologies that we hold or we believe; instead, we should ask what it means, what is the significance it has to the research and/or, to an extent, society Heather (2000) articulated “the philosophy of CDA wishes us to be aware of how, by accepting programming imposed by such discourse, we are colluding with underlying social parameters which they support” Although claimed as the most widely used discourse analysis, research using CDA

is not without its trepidations

First, analysts must accept its subjective nature as an inevitability and that the discourse being analyzed is up to the researcher's interpretation (Fairclough, 1992) According to Wodak (1999), the CDA analysts may have their subjective influence

on the analysis and cannot separate their own values and beliefs from the research they are doing Therefore, during the procedure of analyzing discourse as a reflection of wider structural and ideological forces, the CDA analysts may shape and give meaning to the production of discourse by basing on their preconceptions and personal beliefs (Wooffitt, 2005) Moreover, critical discourse analysis is fundamentally defined by its political aims Thus, they may project their own political biases onto their data and analyze them accordingly Since CDA's agenda

is important and of considerable social significance (Stubbs, 1997), CDA should be more critical and detailed, and its claims should be strengthened based on evidence (Toolan, 1997)

CDA has an inadequate theory of the way texts work in social contexts Reader response or audience reception is often naively assumed on the basis of the researcher's interpretation of the text Readers should contrast conclusions of this kind with work carried out in media studies which provide deeper insights into the relationship between texts and subjects CDA researchers need to pay more attention to this dimension and find ways of exploring real responses

Methodology and theoretical background of CDA do not always ensure a sufficiently detailed and systematic analysis of the text and impose a bias on the analysis (Schegloff, 1997) Wodak and Chilton (2005) find CDA problematic because it lacks “acknowledgment of the role of cognitive knowledge in deciphering and interpretation" and "attention to the human mind”

Despite its limitations, CDA is the most appropriate method for the research project

at hand, and to strengthen this justification, other approaches to analyze text will be discussed and why such methods would not serve as sufficient alternatives to answer my query Fairclough (2012) suggests Political Discourse Analysis as a way

to analyze texts in that, “it views political discourse as primarily a form of argumentation, and as involving more specifically practical argumentation for or against particular ways of acting, argumentation that can ground decision” This methodology focuses on the choices made and actions taken based on those choices

In the case of this study, the actions taken based on the discursive are not under consideration

In conclusion, besides significant contributions that CDA makes in understanding about society, how social phenomena are interconnected, and how structures of power and ideologies behind discourse; CDA also have some weakness that analysts should be aware of when using this approach in discourse analysis

2.4 Some main concepts of CDA

2.4.1 Ideology

Ideology, as the major concern in the field of CDA, has been proposed with different definitions Fowler (1991) states that ideology is a neutral concept related

to people's arrangement and proof of their lifestyle He especially refers to ideology

as an unexamined, un-self-critical and routinized set of beliefs and value systems by

a particular social group On the other hand, Fairclough (1995) suggests that ideology involves the description of the world from the perspective of a certain interest; Thompson (1990) defines ideology as meaning that serves power and establishes and maintains asymmetrical power relation Van Dijk (1998) defined

ideology as “the basis of the social representations shared by members of a group” Ideology includes a person's beliefs, disposition, expression of feelings (non-verbal), and so on Ideology may influence what is understood and accepted as true

or false It is the output of our logic system, and the framework of a person's ‘world view' It helps people to behave in a certain way according to the situation they adapted to and perceived as “right” or “common” Fairclough, (1989) shows that this type of ideology is always defined in terms of two schools: one belongs to the USA and Britain after the Second world war as “any social policy which is in part

or in whole derived from social theory in a conscious way” The other comes from Marxist tradition: “ideologies are ideas which arise from a given set of material interests' in the course of the struggle for power”

Despite their different stresses on the definition, we still can make sure that ideology does not bear any negative connotation in the field of CDA Instead, it refers to a kind of practice through which people make sense of their social world Since the asymmetrical social structures interfere with people's way of perceiving and analyzing, this sense-making process varies from one social group to another Usually, their variances are coded in the instrument that we use to interpret and describe the world, the instrument of language In other words, the linguistic choices that the language user has developed to depict the world carry ideological meanings

2.4.2 Power

One crucial presupposition of adequate CDA is understanding the nature of social power and dominance Power is conceptualized both in terms of asymmetries between participants in discourse events and in terms of unequal capacity to control how texts are produced, distributed and consumed in particular socio-cultural contexts Power in CDA is everywhere and no language in use can ever be 'neutral'

or 'objective' (Fairclough, 1989) and no discourse can ever be free of power and the exercise of power (Watts, 1992) Power is not derived from language, but language can be used to challenge power, to provide a finely articulated means for differences

in power in social hierarchical structures Language is not powerful on its own but it

is a tool of manipulating power; in other words, it obtains power by the use powerful people make of it

Fairclough (1995) argued that power can be conceptualized both in terms of asymmetries between participants in discourse events and in terms of unequal capacity to control how texts are produced, distributed and consumed in particular social contexts This type of power mainly stems from ideology, the knowledge that enables persons or groups to carry out their will or to influence others in spite of their resistance (Andersen, 1988; Fairclough, 1989)

Briefly, it can be said that language and power exist in an entwined relationship in which language indexes power, expresses power and also challenge power It is worth bearing in mind that power does not root from language but can be challenged by language Furthermore, it is realized that in a text, power is signaled only by grammatical forms but also the genre of a text which a person employs to control a social occasion

2.4.3 Language and ideology

Along with power, ideology has an import role in CDA Alike power, ideology sounds social and political and related to groups and societal structures And historically, the ideology of a society is that of the dominant class in that society Discussing the relation between ideology and discourse, Fairclough (1995) assumes that there exist a significant connections between features of text and ideology which lies “in the ideological investment of elements which are drawn upon in producing or interpreting a text, , and in the way in which these elements are articulated together and orders of discourse rearticulated in discoursal events”

So far it could have been seen the connection between language and power, language and ideology Similarly, a close relation is found existing between power and ideology It is a common claim that power and ideology are tightly tied together

in the sense that ideology helps secure power, and vice versa, power makes ideology dominant and become “common sense”

Jones & Peccei (2004) suggest that in the attempt of making people act in an expected way, persuasion is a better choice in comparison to physical coercion Indeed, by persuading, a person is to “exercise power through the manufacture of consent…or at least acquiescence towards it” (Fairclough, 1994) To put it another way, the persuasive language actually serves as an effective weapon which brings a person power and obedience, and more importantly, voluntary acts which mean nothing but that the speaker's ideology has been commonly adopted

2.5 Main approaches to CDA

CDA, as developed by various scholars, is not a homogenous model, nor a school or

a paradigm, but a shared perspective on doing linguistics, semiotic or discourse analysis (Van Dijk, 1993) Among different approaches in CDA, there are mainly three broad approaches to British and European CDA: the discourse-historical approach of Wodak and the social-cultural approach of Fairclough and the idiosyncratic approach of Van Dijk Applying discourse-historical approach, scholars have studied the organization of the European Union (e.g., Iedema and Wodak, 1999), or the discursive construction of national identities (e.g., de Cillia et al., 1999; Wodak et al., 1999)

2.5.1 Wodak’s discourse-historical Approach

What distinguishes this approach from other CDA ones is that it focuses on the historical contexts of discourse in the process of explanation and interpretation Wodak (2001) infers a dialectical relationship between discursive practices and fields of action (situations, institutional and social structures), in which they are situated It means that: on the one hand, the situational, institutional and social settings shape and affect discourses, and on the other, discourses influence discursive as well as non-discursive social and political processes and actions He (2001) defines discourse “as a complex bundle of simultaneous and sequential interrelated linguistic acts, which manifest themselves within and across the social fields of action as thematically interrelated semiotic, oral or written tokens, very often as ‘texts’” Reisigl and Wodak (2009) consider discourse to be:

 a cluster of context-dependent semiotic practices that are situated within specific fields of social action;

 socially constituted and socially constitutive;

 linked to the argumentation about validity claims such as truth and normative validity involving several social actors who have different points of view (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009)

Discourse historical approach considers intertextual and interdiscursive relationships between texts, genres and discourses, as well as sociological variables, and situational frames In this approach, intertextuality means that texts are connected to other texts, while interdiscursivity means that discourses are connected to each other The approach focuses on all these relationships to explore how discourses, genres, and texts change in relationship to socio-political change (Wodak, 2001)

2.5.2 Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive Approach

Van Dijk's approach attempts to connect the microstructure of language to the macro-structure of society (Kintsch &Van Dijk, 1978) However, instead of

discursive practice, Van Dijk focuses on social cognition as the mediating part

between text and society He defines the social cognitions as "socially shared representations of societal arrangements, groups, and relations, as well as mental operations such as interpretation, thinking and arguing, inferencing and learning" Kintsch and Van Dijk (1978) have distinguished between text's micro-structure and macro-structure Macro-level refers to power, dominance and inequality between social groups, whereas the micro level refers to language use, discourse, verbal interaction and communication (Van Dijk, 2001b) According to Van Dijk (ibid.), societal structures are related to discourse structures through actors and their minds Van Dijk (1991) has applied his approach of discourse analysis to media texts He believes one of the areas in which discourse plays an important role in the (re)production of inequality is that of race and ethnic relations (Wodak & Reisigl 2001; Richardson, 2004) Van Dijk's (1984, 1991, 1993b, 2000b, 2000c, 2001b)

studies on discourse and racism have developed a general theory of the relations between discourse and racism The major point of his work is that "racism is a complex system of social and political inequality that is also reproduced by discourse" (Van Dijk 2001b; Wodak & Reisigl, 2001)

Van Dijk (2000a) has approached critical discourse analysis on the basis of understanding ideological structures and social relations of power involved in discourse There is an argument that news texts are controlled by dominant power (Herman & Chomsky, 2002; Van Dijk, 1991) According to Van Dijk (2000a), ideologies may determine all structures of text or talk and they may be expressed explicitly or implicitly in the structure of discourse Van Dijk (2001b) defines social power as control and asserts that groups have power if they can control the acts and minds of other groups He distinguishes two main types of power: (1) the “coercive power”, which is based on force i.e., power of the military, power of violent men, etc.; and, (2) the “persuasive power”, which is “based on knowledge, information,or authority” such as “the power of parents, professors, or journalists” (Gramsci, 1971)

2.5.3 Norman Fairclough’s dialectical - relational approach

Among various frameworks in CDA, Fairclough's three-dimensional framework has been widely adopted Fairclough (1995) believes that his three-dimensional framework is appropriate for studying socio-cultural changes because this framework creates a link between social practice and language (discourse) He sets out to ‘examine how the ways in which we communicate are constrained by the structures and forces of those social institutions within which we live and function Fairclough (1989) describes his views on what discourse and text analysis are He identifies three levels of discourse, these being first, social conditions of production and interpretation, i.e the factors in society that lead to the production of a text and how these factors affect interpretation Secondly, the process of production and interpretation, i.e how the text has been produced and this effects interpretation Thirdly, the product of the first two stages, the text Corresponding to the three levels or dimensions of discourse, he describes three stages of CDA:

• Description is the stage which is concerned with the formal properties of the text

• Interpretation is concerned with the relationship between text and interaction - with seeing the text as a product of a process of production, and as a resource in the process of interpretation

• Explanation is concerned with the relationship between interaction and social context - with the social determination of the processes of production and interpretation, and their social effects

Among these three approaches, an important part of Wodak's methodology that distinguishes her perspective from the other two is the use of interviews whether in groups or one-to-one By drawing on socio-political, historical and linguistic perspectives, and using various methods of data collection and a diverse range of activity types, Wodak (1999) aim to provide detailed descriptions of their theme, while contrasting competing configurations of national identity and divergent narratives of identity

Fairclough posits a three-dimensional conception of discourse, which is a clear and resemblance to Van Dijk's three dimensions of ideology analysis: discourse, socio-cognition and social analysis The major difference between Fairclough and Van Dijk would appear to occur in the second dimension, which for each author functions to mediate between the other two dimensions While for van Dijk, social cognition and mental models mediate between discourse and the social, Fairclough sees interdiscursivity as mediating between the social and the linguistic Moreover, Fairclough’s CDA is the analysis of ‘dialectical relations between discourse and other objects, elements or moments, as well as analysis of the ‘internal relations’ of discourse (2013) and not strictly the discourse itself Fairclough’s CDA approach focuses on studying discursive events; an event is an “instance of language use, analyzed as text, discursive practice, and social practice” (Fairclough, 1993) Thus,

it allows for a more thorough analysis of the entire situation in which Winston Churchill is speaking; specifically, what the speaker is speaking about, to whom, as well as the current and historical events that lead to this moment A comprehensive set of analytical questions for even a small amount of data give Fairclough's model

major ramifications for the effectiveness of CDA as currently constituted in interpreting texts For that reason, it is Fairclough's CDA and Fairclough-inspired CDA that will be applied in this thesis

2.6 Review of previous studies

Given the role of political discourse in the enactment, reproduction, and legitimization of power and domination, we may also expect many critical discourse studies of political text and talk Different studies have utilized different frameworks as the basis of their analyses

Using Halliday’s systematic-functional framework, Dunmire’s study (2005) demonstrated how representations of the future were embedded in and projected through political discourse and how the ‘public’ was implicated in those representations He focused on President Bush’s speech on 7 October 2002, which presented his rationale for war against Iraq to a lay, public audience The analysis showed that the nominalization ‘threat’ functions in multiple ways to construe a particular vision of future reality Systematic contrasts in modality served to privilege that future reality over alternative visions and, simultaneously, to implicate the public in the Administration’s vision Dunmire also considered the speech within the context of the Bush Administration’s National Security Strategy, particularly its ‘policy of preemption' He argued that the President's speech played

a significant role in facilitating the conceptual, linguistic, and political change articulated through the preemption policy In fact, this article posits that an important ideological component of political discourse derives from its representation of the future and the rhetorical functions those representations serve

in implicating more immediate material and discursive actions

Krzyzanowski (2005) examined the various discursive constructions, negotiations, and reformulations of the political and institutional identity of the EU within the recently completed European Convention within the discourse-historical framework developed by Ruth Wodak The study explored characteristics of the EU discourse about the future of Europe by illustrating the discursive realization of the

‘mainstream voice' in the European Convention, its dissolution of national

standpoints, and the characteristics of discourse of convention members from the EU-Candidate countries

In terms of wartime speech, there are also a number of studies carried out approaching various aspects of a speech

Presenting a framework for a metaphor-based critical analysis of persuasion in political discourse, Ferrari (2007) examined George W Bush's public speeches to the nation in April 2001 More specifically, the analysis was focused on the persuasion strategy enacted to promote the preventive war in Iraq In his approach, conceptual metaphor as related to emotion constitutes the fundamental argumentative feature and crucial tool to address the matter of persuasion in text, contributing to identifying both the ideological root and the persuasive strategy of a given discourse in the long run Synthesis of the results showed the potentialities of metaphor as a privileged cognitive tool for abstracting and constructing discourse strategies Fernandez (2013) also gave special attention to the analysis of dysphemistic figurative language within Lakoff and Johnson's conceptual metaphor theory and Charteris-Black's critical metaphor analysis The results obtained support the idea that Churchill's skillful use of dysphemism is closely connected with his overall political goals of instilling courage and maintaining optimism of British victory in the darkest days of World War II as those of war against powerful Nazi Germany

Lori Maguire (2014) offers a rhetorical analysis of Churchill's "We shall fight on the beach" speech It considers the different audiences that Churchill was writing for and the message he was attempting to give to each It also studies the different levels that the prime minister sees to the conflict: the concrete one in which he describes the actual combat and the abstract one in which Good battles Evil on a cosmic stage On the first level, Dunkirk is a disaster that cannot be denied or hidden from the British people On the second, however, it is a victory-a moral one only but one that has its own importance for Churchill The context of the time is also examined In particular, the famous last paragraph is given an in-depth analysis that leads to some rather surprising results

Zhou Li (2008) offer an attempt to uncover the ideology hidden in the political speech by analyzing "speech on Hitler's Invasion of the U.S.S.R." from three perspectives of transitivity, appraisal, and lexical-grammar in systemic-functional grammar (Halliday)

Ellison (2013) analyzes Obama's two speeches on national defense called the War

on Terror by using the method of CDA The analysis used the theory of Michel Foucault that power can be used to influence knowledge and morality On the one hand, the President uses his discourse to create metanarrative which appears compassionate, emotive, pragmatic, legal and inevitable On the other hand, his speech was perceived as encouraging criticism and debate and implicitly aimed at promoting the ideological consensus in Washington that ensures continued US hegemony and military and economic supremacy

Political speeches have received the great attention of both political and linguistic analysts Because of the wide variety of research conducted in CDA and in the area

of media bias, it was not feasible to review the existing scholarly efforts in the confines of any of the previous sections Additionally, despite extensive effort, no studies were found that correspond to the methods and framework used in this study (i.e a study examining ideologies in British politician’s speech through the use of CDA and, specifically, Fairclough’s model) Therefore, the present paper, making use of Fairclough's three-dimensional model with its emphasis on linguistic features

of the text, could be considered as an attempt to CDA's research in general

In conclusion, this chapter has provided definitions of discourse, DA, CDA, the advantages as well as the limitations of CDA and some key concepts widely used in CDA Various approaches to understanding CDA and previous studies have also been discussed The next chapter will present the selection criteria for the data, its social and historical context and the analytical framework

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

Chapter three first presents the justification for choosing the speech, a description of the context in which the speech was created and delivered and an explanation of the analytical framework used to conduct the research

3.1 Data

The data analyzed in this thesis is the “Finest hour” speech delivered by Sir Winston Churchill in World War 2 The justifications for choosing this speech will

be provided in the following paragraphs

Winston Churchill is commonly considered to have written some of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century, yet few of them have been analyzed in any depth Churchill's stirring oratory is perhaps his wartime speeches famously gave the British lion its roar during the darkest days of the Second World War There are still competitions which honor them, including the “Sir Winston Churchill Public

Speaking Competition” (held every year at Blenheim Palace) and “Churchill

National Public Speaking Competition for Schools” Many of the speeches resonate today, and historians and biographers continue to grapple with Churchill’s approach

to speaking and use of language

Particularly in linguistics, I previously gave a brief review of some widely published studies on Churchill's speeches, yet most of them investigate the speech

in terms of rhetorical devices, an inevitable aspect of literature There is only a few

to provide a thorough analysis to examine the relationship between his skillful oratory and deliberate language use and his political goal and ideologies Thus, this thesis attempts to examine in detail one of the most famous indeed, most important

of these speakers, the "Finest hour" oration Churchill wrote that if a man's oratory was powerful enough he would become an "independent force" He said a speech should be brought to a climax through a "rapid succession of waves of sound and vivid pictures" This technique is obvious in several of Churchill's war speeches Full of passion and delicate language, his appeal for fortitude and courage was credited with re-galvanizing the country in its darkest hour And "Finest hour" is

one of Churchill's most powerful and stirring speeches like that Due to its colossal significance and a limited number of researches conducted under the light of CDA, this speech itself triggers my curiosity and interest to take a detailed investigation

3.2 Context of the speech

World War II had started desperately for the Allies German armor and infantry flooded across Europe Countries were felled, one by one, in quick succession The hope of Western Europe was left in the hands of France and the United Kingdom However, there remained hope France had the Maginot Line, the strongest stretch

of fortifications ever built, and together the French and British had a superior numerical advantage Yet, the hope soon soured The Germans rushed through Belgium, circumventing the Maginot Line, and pushed deep into France, cutting off thousands of French and British troops The British were forced to enact Operation Dynamo and pulled off a daring evacuation of Dunkirk, rescuing almost 340,000 soldiers The Entente clung to their remaining optimism until Paris fell on June 14,

1940, and with it, the organized French resistance The world was left in stunned silence In just over a month, the Germans had managed to capture more ground than they had during the entirety of World War I Seemingly, the only country left standing in the wake of Germany was the United Kingdom The United Kingdom had thrown its troops onto the front-line and failed miserably, costing them 243 ships, 931 aircraft, and much of their mechanized ground forces because they were forced to abandon their vehicles and artillery

In this moment of history, someone was needed: that man was Prime Minister Winston Churchill Prime Minister Churchill was able to reignite hope in the faint hearts of his people when he delivered his "Their Finest Hour" speech on the 18th

of June, 1940 Using his powerful oratorical skills and an appeal to people' logic and emotions, Winston Churchill managed to give all of the United Kingdom hope

in the coming fight

No man was better suited to give this speech than Winston Churchill He had lived a distinguished life, earned the respect of the people, and became one of the most powerful men in the United Kingdom

His expertise as students of British Royal Military College, as a military officer in British Empire and his experiences as a war correspondent for the Morning Post, set

a solid background for Churchill to follow in his father's footsteps and became a politician In 1908, he was finally elected to Parliament and appointed as president

of the Board of Trade, a cabinet position of the prime minister Subsequently, Churchill served as the first lord of the Admiralty where he championed the modernization of the British Navy and set up the Royal Navy Air Service For a brief period during World War I Churchill rejoined the British Army to fight on the Western Front During the late 1930s, he proceeded to become a leading advocate for British rearmament and was a staunch critic of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement of Hitler Then in 1939, Churchill was again appointed as the first lord of the Admiralty and a member of the war cabinet and by April of 1940, he rose to chairman of the Military Coordinating Committee

Churchill finally rose to the height of power when he was appointed as Prime Minister on May 10, 1940, by King George VI Winston Churchill had a distinguished career in the military and politics and earned the respect of the British people by championing their causes By the time he spoke on June 18, 1940; no man had more credibility than Winston Churchill In that dire situation, Winston Churchill was the right man to stand in front of the House of Commons and the British people and layout their situation

3.3 Analytical framework

To investigate the research question, I will utilize Norman Fairclough's CDA as a guide through which this research will be conducted For Fairclough, the model of CDA consists of three dimensions of discourse: text (description), discourse practice (interpretation), and social-cultural practice (explanation)

The stage of description

This stage is concerned with the formal properties of the text which can be regarded

as the particular options of each individual To unravel the hidden meanings, embedded messages and interpret the speaker's ideology, a set of ten questions relating to vocabulary, grammar, and textual structure:

A Vocabulary

1 What experiential values do words have?

What classification schemes are drawn upon?

Are there words which are ideologically contested?

Is there rewording or overwording?

What ideologically significant meaning relations are there between words?

2 What relational values do words have?

Are there euphemistic expressions?

Are there markedly formal or informal words?

3 What expressive values do words have?

4 What metaphors are used?

B Grammar

5 What experiential values do grammatical features have?

What types of process and participants predominate?

Is the agency unclear?

Are processes what they seem?

Are normalizations used?

Are sentences active or passive?

Are sentences positive or negative?

6 What relational values do grammatical features have?

What modes are used?

Are there important features of relational modality?

Are the pronouns we and you used and if so, how?

7 What expressive values do grammatical features have?

Are there important features of expressive modality?

8 How are (simple) sentences linked together?

What logical connectors are used?

Are complex sentences characterized by coordination or/ subordination?

What means are used for referring inside and outside the text?

C Textual structures

9 What interactional conventions are used?

Are there ways in which one participant controls the turns of others?

10 What larger scale structures does the text have?

(Fairclough, 1989) The definitions of three terms: experiential, relational and expressive, are of great importance to the understanding of the framework By looking at experiential values CDA attempts to show how ‘the text producer’s experience of the natural or social world’ effects and is shown in a text A person’s views of the world can be identified by assessing formal features with experiential value Relational values may identify the perceived social relationship between the producer of the text and its recipient The third dimension, expressive value, provides an insight into “the producer’s evaluation (in the widest sense) of the bit of the reality it relates to” (ibid: 112) This should identify the relevant parties to the text’s social identities I feel that these values are in the main largely (or completely) subjective Fairclough (1989) goes on to identify another value that any formal feature may possess, connective value, as its function may be to connect together parts of a text He also stresses that “any given formal feature may simultaneously have two or three of these values”

Fairclough’s list of questions seems to be capable of generating an astonishing amount of analysis and may be less suitable for larger quantities of text Most

writers that have based analysis on his model have addressed a reduced number of questions, and yet still produced a much greater quantity of writing than I am able

to do in a paper of this size It seems prudent, as others have done, to limit detailed analysis to areas that are the most interesting and poignant for this piece From the initial examination of the speech, it can be seen that some aspects proposed by Fairclough do not stand out in terms of clarifying the speaker’s ideological expression Therefore, only some of the suggested questions are taken into consideration in accordance with the features of the text and research purposes

The stage of interpretation

The three values of formal features of texts are connected with three aspects of social practice which may be constrained by power (contents, relations and subjects) and their associated structural effects (on knowledge and beliefs, social relationships, and social identities However, it is obvious that one cannot directly infer from the formal features of a text to structural effects upon the constitution of society Values of textual features only become real when they are put in social interaction Therefore, in this stage, an analysis is needed to deal with the discourse processes and their dependence on background knowledge

Specifically, in this thesis, the stage of interpretation will focus on the situational context, the intertextual context and preposition, speech acts Interpretation is generated through what is in the text and what is "in" the interpreter Formal features of the text act as the cues, which activate elements of interpreter's MR (member's resources) The term MR can be understood as the background knowledge, values, beliefs, assumptions, or in Fairclough's viewpoint, the interpretative procedures of the text

The stage of explanation

This stage aims at finding the social determination of the processes of production and interpretation and their social effects This stage is to "portray a discourse as part of a social process, as a social practice, showing how it is determined by social structure, and what reproductive effects discourse can cumulatively have on those

structures, sustaining them or changing them" (Fairclough, 2001) The social determinations and effects are mediated by MR: social structure shapes MR, which

in turn shape discourse; and discourse sustain or change MR, which in turn sustain

or change the structure As we can see, two dimensions which are focused in this stage are the social effects and social determination of discourse The two-dimension are to be examined at three levels of social organization: societal, institutional and situational

Fairclough (2001) also summarizes what can be asked of a particular discourse under investigation into the form of three questions

1 Social determinants: What power relations at situational, institutional and societal levels help shape this discourse?

2 Ideologies: What elements of MR which are drawn upon have an ideological character?

3 Effects: How is this discourse positioned in relation to struggle at the situational, institutional and societal level? And these struggle overt or covert? Is the discourse normative with respect to MR or creative? Does it contribute to sustaining existing power relations, or transforming them?

In conclusion, this chapter provides an explanation of the data and the analytical framework used in the thesis The next chapter will offer a critical discourse analysis of the speech’s transcript utilizing the three-dimensional model of Fairclough to investigate the speaker’s ideologies and how they are manifested linguistically in the speech

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Chapter four presents the analysis of the data described in the previous chapter Utilizing Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the data is analyzed in three stages

In the description stage, the vocabulary, grammar, connective values and large-scale structure are analyzed In the interpretation stage, the situational context, intertextual context, presupposition and speech acts are taken into consideration The explanation stage is concerned with social structure, institutional level and societal level of the speech

"unconsciously associated with certain ideological frameworks" (Fairclough, 2001) Thus, as Fairclough adds, "the occurrence of particular words will uncover the discourse types the words are drawing upon and contributing to" In this thesis, experiential values would be analyzed in terms of overwording, meaning relations and negative/positive word choice

Overwording

One particular sign of an ideological framework within a text is over-wording

"Overwording indicates a preoccupation with certain aspects of reality, which may reveal an ideological struggle" (Pierce, 2008) The "Finest hour" speech was composed during the wartime, thus it is much preoccupied with war-related vocabulary They appear in every paragraph and can be categorized into some set of

hyponymy The human resources involved in the war: expeditionary forces, army,

enemy, comrades, division, foes, troops, fighting troops, military force, Admiralty, naval surface forces, land forces, parachute troops, airborne soldier, crews, fighters and bombers, armoured columns, bomber forces, pilot, the Allies; the

military equipments used in the war: cannon, rifles, munitions, weapons, artillery,

mass of munitions, minefields, submarines, surface ships, armament; the words

describing the strategic action: heroic resistance, formations, call up, drill, train,

defense, invasion, reconnaissance, raid, circumvented, blockade, struggle, dispute, attack, bombing attack, detriment With that intense density of vocabulary, the

general view of continuous harsh battles in World War II is roughly described Especially, the military equipment and human in all fronts are mentioned, from land forces, seaborne forces, airforces, parachute forces to bombing forces, from navy, pilot, troops to reconnaissance, appear not only once through the text, in both parts described the British - the Allies’s and the Nazi, to emphasize the well-preparation

of the British as well the full-equipped forces of the enemy

Meaning relations

The synonymy occurs in the set: large - vast - great - colossal - magnificent,

especially the repetition of the word "large" (11 times) The scale and influence of the war are expressed directly through this lexical repetition, which takes part as a logical ground to expand the war's significance is not only Britsh's issue but a mutual concern of the whole world

The synonymy again is exploited to expose the nefarious nature of the enemy Regardless of the predominant mass armament or powerful military forces, they

have no way get rid of their crafty and cunning style, prefer "treacheries",

“stratagems”, “dirty tricks” to proper strategic fighting plan

In spite the fact that "we" are fully aware of the severe condition and the foe's immorality, "we" will not make any concessive, and aim at the ultimate goal - final

victory and freedom restored to all The two sets of synonymy abate - recede, jot -

tittle is blended cleverly to emphasize the determination and unbeatable moral the

speaker desire in all people

We abate nothing of our just demands; not one jot or tittle do we recede (line 294-295)

Additionally, some sets of antonymy are used intentionally such as:

If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future (line 30-31)

In no way diminishes, but on the contrary definitely increases, the power of our

long-distance blockade (line 242-243)

Win or lose, sink or swim, better die than submit to tyranny - and such a tyranny (line

219-220)

What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over I expect the Battle of Britain

is about to begin (line 297-298)

If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move

forward into broad, sunlit uplands But if we fail, then the whole world, including the

United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss

of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science (line 302-306)

There are some sets which are not absolute antonyms, but their contrastive

connotation it brings is absolutely impressive: past - present - future, stand up to -

fail, move forward - sink into, uplands - abyss, sunlit - Dark - light These words

choices successfully transmit Churchill's intention to draw a contrasting coming vision, desperate or hopeful, it all depends on our current actions

Positive/negative word choices

According to Van Dijk (as cited in Wodak R and Meyer, M., 2001), lexical meanings are the result of the combination between speaker/writer personal relevant understandings and socially shared beliefs These meanings are said to influence directly the attitudes and opinions of the recipients and then can be best recalled and easily reproduced The lexical selection of the text in positive and negative terms, namely in-group and out-group – is presentation to exhibit power and ideologies Contrastive classification schemes of positive and negative terms are utilized in this text, specifically, the "in-group" including the British army and supporters, is

depicted as heroic, large, powerful, best-trained, best-equipped, finest, at no

disadvantage, high-class, great, splendid, brilliant youth, brave, immense profound, eminent In spite of the failure of the battle in France, the soldiers had fought

bravely and they would do the same in many battles ahead with more careful side preparation and widespread supports of worldwide brotherhood

all-In contrast, the enemy - the Nazi is supposed to be dangerous, crafty, cunning and

full of novel treacheries and stratagems and to use dirty tricks, despotic control, ruthlessness to make all Europe writhing and starving under its cruel heel, and they

will make the whole world sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age A list of the

terrible nature and actions performed by the enemy and suffering consequences people have to take help the audiences, even without having heard the event in the past, could imagine how horrible it occurred and it would be worse in future Coming from a credible and authoritative source as claimed by the Prime Minister, the listener's indignations towards Germany will be a push to excessiveness and

there is no space for tolerance “Win or lose, sink or swim, better die than submit to

tyranny - and such a tyranny”

4.1.1.2 Relational value

The idea of relational values reflects how a text's choice of wording depends on and creates social relationships between members of a particular group (Abe, 2000) Here the main matter is relational values as explained prior to this, it deals with the way a text's selection of words rely on and assist in creating societal relations among members of a given society it includes features of formality Introduced by Fairclough (1996), “formality is a common property in many societies of practices and discourses of high social prestige and restricted access”

Formal language is widely used in official political speech to emphasize its

solemnity and the statues of the speaker In “Finest hour” speech Winston Churchill

takes advantage of numerous formal words and phrases in “Finest hour”: recite,

hold an inquest in, on the conduct of, for the guidance of our affairs, subject to, concentrated power, prolong, under condition of public stress, with any sense of surprise, indicate, have been concerned in discussion, gain sea superiority, shall be delighted to, circumvented, utmost ingenuity, impending, as far as the war is concerned, look forward, intermission, submit to, endorse, contemplating, in accordance with, declaration, continuity It is noticeable that a mass number of

formal adverbs emphasizing the degree in speed of action, scale of event ,

importance of decision, manner and obligation obeyed: decisively, inevitably,

severely, utterly, punctually, faithfully, successfully, forthwith, steadily, particularly, consequently, speedily, undoubtedly, surprisingly, unitedly, fully, definitely, greatly, slightly, enormously, repeatedly, unexpectedly, thoroughly, confidently, certainly

4.1.1.3 Expressive value

A text producer evaluates the reality the text treats through the vocabulary, namely the expressive values Fairclough (2001) states that expressive values are interconnected with experiential values; “the experiential values represent the text producer’s knowledge and ideas, while the expressive values represent the text producer’s way of judging” (Fairclough, 2001) According to Fairclough, “the text producer’s evaluations are expressed by drawing on classification schemes, which are ideologically significant” and “the expressive value of words has always been a central concern for those interested in persuasive language” Churchill tactically employs ideologically contrastive scheme to express his ideas Besides the list of positive and negative vocabularies for in-groups and out-groups mentioned in the previous part, his beautiful pictorial language is worth discussing

If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move

forward into broad, sunlit uplands But if we fail, then the whole world, including the

United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss

of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of

perverted science (line 302-306)

While the structure of these 180 words is complex, the language used is remarkably simple, yet full of images The phrase "move forward into broad, sunlit uplands" implies free, upward movement into a place full of sunshine, which is often associated with peace and happiness "Sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age" indicates an involuntary, downward movement into darkness, unconventionally with the lights of science This abnormal contrastive combination is modified by the adjective "perverted" The phrase "perverted science" was stored in Churchill's

mental sketchbook and resurfaced in a radio broadcast given on 24 August about his meeting with American president Roosevelt, which makes his meaning more clear Hitler, he commented, "has weapons and machinery for grinding down and holding down conquered countries which are the product, the sadly perverted product, of modern science”

Another noticeable expression in the speech is “If we open a quarrel between the

past and the present, we shall find we have lost the future” Relating to the context,

it can be seen this sentence's values not only lies at the triple set of antonym: past - present - future In 1940, Churchill was defending the all-party coalition he had brought together in defense of the nation Different parties argue with each other on the responsibilities for inexact decisions made in the past, for the recent pessimistic situation Thus, Churchill, with a role of a head person of this Government, had to make everybody clear that it was not the right time for any dispute and bring forth the more important common goal needed to focus on: the future The uncomplicated and artistic style of expression is able to spark emotional effect on the audience, made these saying a sincere call rather than a strict order from the highest superior

“He nothing common did or mean/ Upon that memorable scene”

The former one may be conjured by a quote of Aeschylus - a playwright of ancient

Greece: “Death is softer by far than tyranny” While the later one is is an exact

citation from Andrew Marvell's poem written in 1650 to celebrate the rise of the republic and Oliver Cromwell as a master soldier and statesman, who also treating King Charles with grace These two lines illustrate King Charles I's execution, claiming he does "nothing common" or "mean" when facing death Marvell marks this as the "memorable hour" for the collapse of the autocracy of kings and also, for the victorious Parliament Army of England The audiences, whether are aware of

the poem or not, still capture of the indomitable spirit the speech inspires Plus, this poem is regarded as possibly the greatest political poem Taking advantages of these famous archaic quotes and poems, Churchill accomplishes his goal to conjure a historical repetition, sense of nostalgia and a proposition that this is an eternal truth

Myth-making

Let us, therefore, brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour." (line 306-308)

Churchill composes an inverted climax by calling on the living to be heroes for their descendants He anticipates the future generations will remember "us" and say "this was their finest hour" In coaching his appeal to the audience as an appeal to duty, Churchill suggests what is needed, heroism, is indeed anything out of the ordinary, but simply what people would expect of others and themselves Such a call had been made before the battle approached, or in another word, Churchill pre-creates historical memory He turns the battle into memory before it has begun, lifting it into almost cosmic significance His sayings, at that time, not yet were the truth but persuasion Fighting the battle was a choice and some members of the government were more than ready to choose otherwise Although formally Churchill presents us with a choice, the systematic rigor of his argument effectively precludes all but one option: to fight

4.1.2 Grammar

4.1.2.1 Mode

According to Fairclough, there are three main modes: declarative, grammatical question, imperative In "Finest hour", declarative take up the most as the speaker here has a role as a giver of information and the addressee as a receiver Questions also show up in both direct and indirect form in the speech

Lest the account which I have given of these large forces should raise the question: Why did they not take part in the great battle in France? (line 78-79)